Weapons and equipment of the Essential Compromise

The equipment and weapons of the Victorian Era were either simplistic mechanical constructions or complicated magical devices. By this time the peoples of the Old World had become so enamoured of magical and Infernal technology that investigation of the natural sciences was seen as a second-rate hobby, interesting in its own right for those with enough time and money to devote to it but of limited use when compared to the great achievements of the magical arts.

Scientific discovery ended with the discovery of the gas lamp and the steam engine, and since then Architecture and mathematics were the only fields to continue to develop, both being intricately connected with the Infernal and magical arts respectively. Even medicine ceased to be a viable field of study with the development of the Healing Arts and the return of Witchcraft to rural communities. Europe entered the Victorian Era without electricity or medicine, and with no chance of developing them.

The Europeans also found little use for Gunpowder. Muskets had fallen out of favour with the military after the development of Demon Weapons, and although cannon retained some usefulness in fortifications, especially as magical and infernal arts made them bigger and more powerful, it was generally believed that any weapon devised using gunpowder could be made more portable, more ferocious and more reliable using magic. So the military returned to the Demon Bow, with elite units using rarer and more powerful weapons and officers carrying old pistols only for show and duelling. Some few gunpowder weapons were developed to a better standard but they always remained cumbersome, inconvenient and ineffective. The Victorians also distrusted gunpowder as an Oriental invention, which the Chinese especially seemed to be far better at turning into a weapon than the Europeans.

Posts on this topic describe some of the common mundane and magical weapons and equipment of the Essential Compromise Victorian era. The era was full of innovation and individualism in the Infernal Sciences, and so there are many other items than these available in the larger cities of England and Europe; but these posts should suffice to display the common themes in adventuring goods of the time.

The chief means of getting about Europe remained the Steam Train, the Horse and Carriage, and the Steamer. By 1875 England was well-served by an extensive network of railways; prior to this more extensive use needed to be made of the horse and Carriage. International trade and travel was made possible by the Steamer and (until the very late 19th Century) the Tall Ship. Various magical and Infernal improvements on these standard designs will also be described in the posts to follow.